Monday, May 30, 2005

The Papal Road Show

So B16 went to Bari yesterday, his first trip outside Rome since the election. Great photos, great syntheses are out there, but here are two nuggets I found -- both from today's NYTimes brief on it.

First off, a beef: Ian Fisher calls the eucharist "the sacrament of bread and wine." Period. Why is something so ridiculously simple to describe even in objective terms the biggest tongue-twister for the secular press? AP had to issue a correction about the same thing last week; Amy told us this.

And now for the fun stuff.... The new pope's approach has been described as "businesslike," but this is warmer than business:

"About halfway home, though, his helicopter dropped low over the town of Duronia and hovered as he blessed a crowd gathered on a soccer field.... The pilot was from the town."

Imagine it: you're watching a game, hanging out on a soccer field, and out of the heavens descending, it's the Pope. That's hot.

And then Benedict asked what could well be called The Question, one we often don't ask ourselves enough:

"How can we communicate with the Lord if we don't communicate among ourselves?"

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About Me

One of global Catholicism's most prominent chroniclers, Rocco Palmo has held court as the "Church Whisperer" since 2004, when the pages you're reading were launched with an audience of three, grown since by nothing but word of mouth, and kept alive throughout solely by means of reader support.

A former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet, he's been a church analyst for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, NBC, CNN and NPR among other mainstream print and broadcast outlets worldwide.

A native of Philadelphia, Rocco Palmo attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2010, he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis.

In 2011, Palmo co-chaired the first Vatican conference on social media, convened by the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communications. By appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap., he's likewise served on the first-ever Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese, whose Church remains his home.